The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-05-18
Talk About Tobacco.


1t has frequently puzzled the observ-
er, as it undoubtedly has many others,
to account for the high price of i'm
ported wares which in the respective
countries of their birth are quoted very
low. Being possessed of a Persian
water-pipe-the gift of q friend-the
writer stepped tho other day into
large Broadway establishment, veri-
table paradise for the connoisseur in
weeds, and inquired the price of
pound of Persian tobacco. He was
dumfounded when he was told that il
cost five good American dollars a
pound. 1t was exactly the same varie-
ty, the ShiraZ brand, which in Persia
sells for 20 cents a pound. Thus ex-
actly twenty-five times as much is de-
manded here for it, The explanation,
however, was quite simple. First, the
long, perilous and expensive caravan
transport through Persia to Trebi-
Zonde, on the Black Sea. That en-
hances the price so that in CONSTANT
nople already the same tobacco cost 8
Turkish francs pound Cor eight times
as much as in Persia. Add the profits of
half dozen middlemen, the cost of
two long ocean journeys more and the
duties here and elsewhere, and one has
easily the net result, viz, 50 pound.
Very much the same reasons prevail in
other articles selling here at enormous
prices, which at home go for next to
nothing, such as Sumatra tobacco, for
instance, of which the writer remem-
bers buying for about cent his sailor
cap heaped full when sailing the Indian
Ocean blue as boy.
The above remarks do not, however,
apply to Turkish tobacco. That, in
point of fact, sells nearly as high in
Constantinople as in New York. No
decent Turkish tobacco can be pur-
chased in the city of the Sultans for
less than 81 80 OF our money per pound.
The finer brands of Turkish tobacco
are exceedingly difficult to obtain there,
even, and some of the choicest Turkish
tobacco can be had in New York with
out any trouble whatever, and at
relatively low price, while on the Bos-
phorus 1T is only the foreign diploma
fist and the high Turkish official who
can obtain it at all, outside of the Sui
tan himself. And there is no better
tobacco to be had, even by the Padishah,
the successor of Mohammed and the
Caliphs, than what may be bought in
this city for SIS a pound in shop
where any "giaour," any unbelieving
dog, may have it. Take cigarettes
again. In Constantinople the best
grade of cigarettes which can be pub
licly bought cost about $1.40 per 100.
These are not better than may be had
here for the same money or less. The
finer grades are not in the market at
all, but must be surreptitiously OBJ
tanned in roundabout way, and at
generous outlay, and even then it is a
matter of favoritism when you get
them. AS for the lower grades of
Turkish cigarettes, they are abomina-
BILE. 1t is the same with the tobacco
for pipes. The Turks themselves, al
though very patient race, complain
of this bitterly, and in their narghilehs
Cor water pipes they now universally
smoke Persian tobacco.
The cause of it all is to be found in
the Turkish reggie. This is syndicate
of capitalists, Austrians and Greeks,
who pay large sum every year into
the Sultan's treasury for the privilege
of buying up and selling exclusively
the whole tobacco crop of Turkey.
The franchise has been renewed less
than year ago, after good deal of
haggling and intriguing. The compa-
ny must furnish, at cost price,
stated amount of the finest native to-
bacco to the Sultan, his court, the
higher officials and the foreign diplo-
mats. The rest of Turkey has to
smoke whatever the reggie choose to sell
them.-NelC York Graphic.